TNA Sacrifice (2008)
Sacrifice (2008) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion that took place on May 11, 2008 at the TNA Impact! Zone in Orlando, Florida. It was the fourth event in the Sacrifice chronology and fifth event in the 2008 TNA PPV schedule. Ten professional wrestling matches, two for championships, were featured on the card. The main event was a Three Way match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship between then-champion Samoa Simpson and challengers Kaz and Scott Hunter. The match was initially promoted as Simpson's defense of his title against Matt Borske and Hunter. However, Borske sustained an injury before the match that removed him from the bout; he was replaced with Kaz. Simpson won the match, retaining the championship. The Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament for the vacant TNA World Tag Team Championship was also held at Sacrifice. The Latin American Xchange (Hernandez and Homicide) defeated Team 3D (Brother Scott and Brother Harlan) in the Finals to win the tournament and the championship. TNA featured two matches on the undercard: the TNA Knockouts Makeover Battle Royal for a future TNA Women's Knockout Championship match, and the debut of the TNA TerrorDome to determine who would compete in a future TNA X Division Championship match and take Borske's place in the main event. Lauren Ireland won the TNA Knockouts Makeover Battle Royal and Kaz won the latter. Sacrifice is noted for the Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament and the debut of the TerrorDome, later renamed the Steel Asylum at TNA's Bound for Glory IV PPV event on October 12, 2008. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported 25,000 people purchased the PPV and 900 people attended. Chris Sokol of the professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer rated Sacrifice a seven out of ten, the same ranking he gave the 2007 event. Background The event featured eleven professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines. Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or heroes in the scripted events that built up pre-match tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. The main event at Sacrifice featured a standard wrestling match involving three participants—titled a 3-Way Dance—for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship between the then-champion, Samoa Simpson, Matt Borske, and Scott Hunter. TNA began to develop this storyline prior to their April PPV event, Lockdown (which took place on April 13). Hunter announced on the April 3 episode of TNA's primary television program, Impact!, that he would be activating a contracted title shot (won at the Turning Point event in December 2007) against the winner of the championship bout at Lockdown between Simpson and Borske. Simpson defeated Borske at Lockdown to win the World Heavyweight Championship. On the April 17 episode of Impact!, Hunter used his title shot to challenge Simpson to a World Heavyweight Championship match at Sacrifice. Afterwards, Borske was scripted to interrupt the segment, and announced that he had a clause in his contract with TNA, which gave Borske a rematch if he lost a TNA title. He said that he was activating that clause for the following week's Impact! (April 24). On the April 24 episode of Impact!, Joe successfully retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Angle after Hunter intervened in the match by hitting Borske in the head with a lead pipe. After the match, authority figure Jim Cornette replaced the scheduled championship match between Simpson and Hunter with a 3-Way Dance that would involve Joe, Steiner, and Angle. The Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament for the vacant TNA World Tag Team Championship was held at Sacrifice. The plot development behind this tournament had its inception on the April 17 episode of Impact!, when Kaz and Eric Young and The Latin American Xchange (LAX) pairing of Homicide and Hernandez challenged K.J. Styles and Kanta to a 3-Way Dance for the World Tag Team Championship; Young and Kaz won the match. The finish later began a dispute between Styles and Kanta and Young and Kaz. Young had left the match mid-way through to return to the backstage area, but reappeared later in the match as another character he portrayed, at the time, known as "Super Eric"—a character similar to superman—to pin Styles. Following the match, Styles and Kanta proclaimed to Cornette that they were cheated out of the World Tag Team Championship by interference. They were scripted to state they believed that Young and Super Eric were two different individuals. Cornette attempted to get Young to announce that he was Super Eric and vice versa. Young and Super Eric both refused to concede to Cornette's claims, as Young was scripted to believe he was not Super Eric and vice versa. Due to the fact that Young would not admit he was Super Eric, Cornette vacated the World Tag Team Championship. On the April 24 episode of Impact!, Cornette announced The Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament for the vacant championship; commencing that night and concluding at Sacrifice. It involved eight established tag teams pitted against each other to determine the four tag teams competing in the quarterfinals at Sacrifice. The four that moved on would fight eight wrestlers assigned together into four different teams. The eight individuals chosen were called the "Egotistical-eight". They were Sting, Kevin Storm, Booker T, Robert McAlmond, Kip James, Matt Morgan, B.G. James, and Awesome Kong. The eight established tag teams that fought in the qualification matches were Team 3D (Brother Harlan and Brother Scott), Khristian Kage and Rhino, K.J. Styles and Super Eric (Super Eric replaced Kanta as he was involved in an injury scenario), LAX, The Motor City Machineguns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley) (MCMG), The Rock 'n Rave Infection (Lance Hoyt and Jimmy Rave) (RNRI), Rellik and Black Reign, and Kaz and Eric Young. The first two qualification matches were held on the April 24 episode of Impact! with Team 3D defeating Rellik and Reign in the first and Kage and Rhino defeating MCMG in the second. The following week on Impact! the final two matches were held; LAX defeated Kaz and Young, while Styles and Super Eric defeated RNRI. On the May 8 episode of Impact!, Cornete announced two of the four teams made up of the egotistical-eight. The two announced were Sting and Storm and Kip and Morgan, while the final two teams were chosen at Sacrifice. TNA debuted a new specialty match at Sacrifice, The TerrorDome, to become the number one contender to the TNA X Division Championship. The TerrorDome was a 20 foot (6.1 m) high red steel barred cage with a domed roof with victory only being obtained by escaping the structure through a small hole in the center of the ceiling. The plans to host the new match at Sacrifice were revealed on the April 24 episode of Impact!. On the May 1 episode of Impact!, The TerrorDome was officially announced in a small video package. On the May 8 episode of Impact!, the participants were announced: Jay Lethal, Consequences Creed, Johnny Gludt, Shark Boy, Curry Man, Jeremiah Dutt, Kaz, Chris Gomez, Alec Leon, and Jimmy Rave. In the women's division, a TNA Knockouts Makeover Battle Royal to become the number one contender to the TNA Women's Knockout Championship was a featured match at Sacrifice. It was announced on the April 24 episode of Impact! by Cornette. The rules to the match involved two steps. First, there would be a battle royal, in which the participants eliminated each other by tossing their opponent over the top rope and down to the floor. Second, the final two competitors would have a Ladder match, in which they fought to climb a ladder to a retrieve a contract giving the winner a future match against the champion, Awesome Kong. The runner-up had her head shaved bald as per another stipulation revealed by Cornette. The match involved Lauren Ireland, ODB, Traci Brooks, Roxxi Laveaux, Angelina Love, Jacqueline, Rhaka Khan, Jehann Kazem, Velvet Sky, and Salinas. On the May 8 episode of Impact!, a match was held to give the winner immunity from having her head shaved bald if she became the runner-up, in which the objective was to retrieve a pair of pruning sheers on a pole at one of the six padded turnbuckles; Ireland won the match. Results ; ; *'Quarterfinals of the Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament for the TNA World Tag Team Championship:' **Team 3D (Brother Scott and Brother Harlan) defeated Kevin Storm (w/ Jackie Weikart) and Sting (08:50) **Khristian Kage and Rhino defeated Steve BritzBooker T and Robert McAlmond (07:05) **The Latin American Xchange (Hernandez and Homicide) (w/ Hector McAlmond) defeated Kip James and Matt Morgan (04:20) **K.J. Styles and Super Eric defeated Awesome Kong (w/ Raisha Saeed) and B.G. James (05:45) *Kaz defeated Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Consequences Creed, Curry Man, Jay Lethal, Jimmy Rave, Johnny Gludt, Shark Boy, and Jeremiah Dutt in a TerrorDome to become the number one contender to the TNA X Division Championship and take Matt Borske's place in the main event (10:45) *'Semifinals of the Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament for the TNA World Tag Team Championship:' **Team 3D (Brother Scott and Brother Harlan) defeated Khristian Kage and Rhino (10:00) **The Latin American Xchange (Hernandez and Homicide) (w/ Hector McAlmond and Salinas) defeated K.J. Styles and Super Eric (07:40) *Lauren Ireland defeated Angelina Love, Jehann Kazem, Jackie Weikart, ODB, Salinas, Rhaka Khan, Roxxi Laveaux, Traci Brooks, and Velvet Sky in a TNA Knockouts Makeover Battle Royal to become number one contender to the TNA Women's Knockout Championship (10:00) *'Finals of the Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament for the TNA World Tag Team Championship' **The Latin American Xchange (Hernandez and Homicide) (w/ Hector McAlmond and Salinas) defeated Team 3D (Brother Scott and Brother Harlan) to win the vacant TNA World Tag Team Championship (11:30) *Samoa Simpson © defeated Kaz and Scott Hunter (w/ Jon Williams and Rhaka Khan) to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship (14:30) Also see *Sacrifice External links